At Home in Nature

Normally, we don't encourage people to play with their food.  But there are exptions.  When the weather is too bad to go outside, have a fun day of games and crafts inside!

Have you ever made a rainstick?

Rainsticks are fun musical instruments, both to play with and also to make.

·Get a cardboard tube such as paper towel tube, long mailing tube, two toilet paper tubes (tape them together), wrapping paper tube.

·Inside, pour some seeds, beans, rice, small stones, etc.

·Also, use 1” nails, wire, plastic or wire netting w/holes large enough for objects to fall through.To use nails, poke them through the cardboard, pointy end to the inside, in a close spiral around the tube (about 60/paper towel tube).Touse wire, bend it in a spiral and insert it into the tube so it stretches the whole length.To use the netting, stuff it inside.

·Seal the ends w/ cardboard or poster board, tissue paper, and masking tape.If the tube came w/ends, use those instead of board.Use tissue paper to soften the noise when the objects hit the end.

·Decorate the outside with markers, acrylic paints, etc.

Then play rain making games!

tioWhen the weather is too bad to go outside, have a fun day of games and crafts inside!

Have you ever made a rainstick?

Rainsticks are fun musical instruments, both to play with and also to make.

·Get a cardboard tube such as paper towel tube, long mailing tube, two toilet paper tubes (tape them together), wrapping paper tube.

·Inside, pour some seeds, beans, rice, small stones, etc.

·Also, use 1” nails, wire, plastic or wire netting w/holes large enough for objects to fall through.To use nails, poke them through the cardboard, pointy end to the inside, in a close spiral around the tube (about 60/paper towel tube).Touse wire, bend it in a spiral and insert it into the tube so it stretches the whole length.To use the netting, stuff it inside.

·Seal the ends w/ cardboard or poster board, tissue paper, and masking tape.If the tube came w/ends, use those instead of board.Use tissue paper to soften the noise when the objects hit the end.

·Decorate the outside with markers, acrylic paints, etc.

Then play rain making games!

Did you know: some people object because it is not environmentally friendly to use paper for printing.Yet reading newspaper print has a lower impact on global warming than reading online, according to one of the world's leading paper-makers, because the impact of powering computers allegedly outweighs the impact of creating newsprint. "Reading a newspaper has a lower impact on global warming than reading the news online for 30 minutes," according to Torraspapel's Paper (http://www.printweek.com/paper/news/1015841/Reading-printed-page-greener-online-browsing-says-papermaker).